The present invention relates to a holder for disposable towels such as paper towels, and the holder has a suction cup attached to its base to secure the holder to a counter top upon removal of the disposable towels.
Holders for disposable towels such as paper towels are well-known; and often the holders are secured to the underside of a kitchen cabinet or the like to provide a convenient means for removing the towels from the roll by pulling on the last towel to separate perforations. Holders for disposable towels have also been provided which may be placed upon a counter top; and often the roll of disposable towels are held vertically to save counter space. Unfortunately, such vertical holders for disposable towels are often unstable when a paper towel is attempted to be torn from the roll. In one proposed vertical holder for paper towels described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,007, a large base is provided for stability. The use of a larger base, however, requires additional counter space beyond the lateral extent of the roll of paper towels and an advantage of a vertical paper towel holder is diminished.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a holder for a roll of disposable towels which may be placed vertically on a surface such as a counter top with minimal use of counter space and yet may be held to the counter top upon attempting to tear a disposable towel from the roll.
According to the present invention, a holder for a roll of disposable towels has a base and an upstanding member extending upwardly from the base to be inserted into the hollow core of the roll of towels. A suction cup is held to the underside of the base and adapted to be depressed downwardly by movement of the holder for holding the base securely to a surface such as a counter top in order to facilitate removal of the towels from the roll. The upper surface of the suction cup has upstanding portions to engage the undersurface of the base to depress the suction cup assuredly upon downward movement of the holder. In this way, holder can be secured to a counter top and yet the base need extend only to the expected extent of the periphery of the roll of paper towels.
In a preferred form of the present invention, the base has an opening, and a tab upstanding from the suction cup extends through the opening for enabling the suction cup to be released from the surface.